Who Won Events 46-50 at the 2022 World Series of Poker?

The latest events at the 2022 World Series of Poker saw some terrific action award gold bracelets to five new players. If you haven’t seen who won events 41 – 45, then you’ve missed some of the biggest winners of the series so far, although no-one has quite reached the heights of the $4.5 million that Alex Foxen won in the $250,000 buy-in Super High Roller event last week. Let’s see if anyone who took home gold in events 46-50 managed to top him.

Pastore Wins Six-Max Bracelet Event for $771k

Event #46 of the 2022 WSOP saw Jonathan Pastore lift the gold bracelet above his head after a top prize of $167,882 came his way. Pastore got off to a running start when he took out the Greek player Paraskevas Tsokaridis in fifth place for $167,882 when Pastore won with pocket eights as Tsokaridis lost out with pocket fives.

After Stephen Song enjoyed a brief period in the lead, Elio Fox busted to the leader in fourth place for $234,036 before Tamer Alkamli lost as short stack in third place for $331,503. With the Canadian’s elimination, Pastore began the heads-up match with 26 million chips to Song’s 20 million.

Song needed to get back into the battle, but his attempt at a luff went disastrously wrong as he piled with five-high on a board showing K-Q-T-6-4. Pastore made a brilliant call with queen-jack and took home the $771,765 top prize, leaving Song to collect the $476,990 runner-up prize.

Smidinger Wins Seniors Event in Emotional Victory

Eric Smidinger won his first bracelet after an epic final day in the $1,000-entry Seniors Championship. Kathy Liebert’s attempt to win her second WSOP bracelet 18 years after her first in 2004 crashed and burned as she busted fifth for $186,541 when she shoved with pocket kings and was called by Ben Sarnoff’s pocket aces.

Italian player Biagio Morciano busted in fourth for $244,664 ahead of three0handed play, which featured three home-grown players as American Charles Mitchell battled Sarnoff and Smidinger for the bracelet. Charles Mitchell was the man to miss out on the heads-up match when he left in third for $323,057.

Sarnoff was in a considerable lead when heads-up kicked off with his 115 million-chip stack dwarfing the 31 million sitting in front of Smidinger. The latter was not about to lay down and take defeat, though, and worked himself into a slight lead after some smallball poker earned him an advantage. After calling a bluff, Smidinger’s pocket eights stood up against Sarnoff’s ace-king and the bracelet was heading to Cyprus.

Eight-Game Mix Title Taken by Panagiotou

The final stages of Event #48, the $1,500-entry 8-Game Mix event saw players such as Nick Yunis and Joon Park go close but eventually, it was the Cypriot player Menikos Panagiotou who won the $180,783 top prize at a fun table of action.

Overnight, 16 players return to play the final day. It was Jason Stockfish who came into the final with the most chips, but he was knocked out in fifth place, cashing for $37,188. He was followed from the felt by Eric Buchman, who exited in fourth place for $52,621.

After two other big names busted just before the final table in the form of the 2019 WSOP Player of the Year Robert Campbell (9^th for $14,831) and Adam Friedman (10^th for $11,3870), it was Panagiotou who got the job done for a top prize of $180,7873.

First Bracelet Earns $527k for Simeon Spasov

Bulgarian player Simeon Spasov won his first WSOP bracelet after beating experienced Canadian pro Mike Watson heads-up for a top prize of $527,944 in a dramatic showdown at Bally’s in Las Vegas. Mike Watson, known as ‘Sir Watts’ online, has never won a WSOP bracelet and despite a glittering career, that particular trinket of success still eludes him.

An entertaining final table in this $2,000-entry event saw German player Christopher Frank flipped out of contention by Spasov when the latter’s ace-queen hit against the German’s pocket nines. Three-handed was the long game, but eventually, Portuguese player Daniel Custodio busted for $239,679 to miss out on heads-up.

Spasov was ahead of Watson heading into the match and maintained his advantage to deny the Canadian any encouragement. In the end, Spasov’s famous ace-queen sealed the deal against Watson’s ace-nine relegating his luminous opponent to the runner-up spot and $326,296 consolation prize.

Alex Foxen Wins Super High Roller for $4.5 million

Alex Foxen claimed his first-ever WSOP bracelet as he won the $250,000 buy-in Super High Roller Event #50, winning $4.5 million in the process. Foxen’s record as perhaps the best player never to win a bracelet had haunted him a little in recent years. This year, the debate became even more centralized to him, with Dan Smith taking gold in the $25,000-entry Heads Up Championship earlier in the series.

Foxen now has that monkey off his considerable back. One of the best players in terms of form coming into the final was Dan Zack, who became the only person to win two WSOP bracelets this series in Event #40 last week. He busted in eighth place for $488,095, and thereafter, Phil Ivey’s elimination in seventh gave Foxen yet more hope that his wait for gold was finally over.

With four players left, the 2021 winner of this event, Adrian Mateos, left for a cash of over $1.3 million, before Foxen got rid of Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen in third place for just over $1.9 million. Heads up saw Brandon Steven make the final duel, but he couldn’t stop the runaway train of Foxen, whose domination of the final table was relentless and continued until he had the gold bracelet in his oversized fist.